


Sentimental

by Asdrator



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi | Fire Emblem: Binding Blade
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Kissing, M/M, Romance, background clarine/dorothy, background elffin/perceval, background klein/thea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:14:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24241873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asdrator/pseuds/Asdrator
Summary: In which Rutger has nightmares, Dieck misses Klein and Clarine, and they love each other even more than the day before.
Relationships: Dieck/Rutoga | Rutger
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	Sentimental

As with many an awful dream, Rutger’s was broken by his waking in a cold sweat. With his hand pressed to his face, seeking some ever evasive reassurance that he would be alright, Rutger panted and shuddered. He glanced slightly to the man who lay next to him in bed. Dieck slept as soundly as a bear in hibernation, as he often did. It really was a miracle how he had survived all these years, when he lacked almost any alertness to danger at night. Then again, Dieck hadn’t acquired his legendary reputation as a mercenary for lack of miracles.

Rutger turned over and placed his face on its side atop Dieck’s chest. The soft rhythm of his mighty heart, the warmness of his tough skin, his giant... hands. These were all things that Rutger loved about Dieck, though they were but a small part of a great whole. Being close to him like this would keep the nightmares away, or at least make being kept awake by them a much more pleasant experience. Slowly, Rutger closed his eyes again, and tried as much as was possible not to think of that day in Bulgar, when the dogs of Bern killed his family and friends.

Even now, it was hard to hide his disdain whenever he encountered someone from Bern. Even if taking revenge was now pointless, Rutger’s very instincts continued to hold rage towards Bern. They would likely continue to do so for the rest of his life, but that rage would not ever guide him again. Not when he had finally found another person, a person who hadn’t died at Bulgar, who truly loved him, a rare occurrence in the bleak world Rutger lived in.

Moving his head upwards, Rutger kissed Dieck’s chin, then moved back down to his chest. Sleep came for him before he knew it, and the tranquility of rest was his once more.  
———————————————————  
Dieck awoke with a very familiar warmth on his chest, and his lips spread into a smile even before his eyes were open. “Morning, babe.” Dieck murmured to Rutger, carefully moving the swordsman’s head off his chest and onto a pillow before getting up. Dieck found that he was much more of a morning person than Rutger, which wasn’t surprising since his lover’s experiences with the early morning were unpleasant, to say the least. Rutger rarely spoke of his nightmares, except to explain he had them often and Dieck never pressed him for details. Their subject matter was easy enough to guess, anyways. It was, in all likelihood, a wide variety of nightmares all based on Rutger’s memories of the slaughter of the Sacaeans. Dieck knew how personal that matter was to Rutger, so it was best to let Rutger talk when he wanted to talk, and listen when he did.

After putting on pants, though neglecting a shirt as was his style, Dieck wandered over to the common area of the inn they had rented a room in. It was a decent enough place, out in the Western Isles, that they had decided to stay in for a job just recently completed. Now that he thought about it, Dieck wondered if they should pay Echidna a visit, since they were in the area anyways. If Rutger were awake, he’d call Dieck overly sentimental just for suggesting it, a mental image that made Dieck laugh lightly to himself. Perhaps he was sentimental, but that wasn’t such a bad thing. He enjoyed the wandering life of a mercenary just as Rutger did, but it felt nice to see old friends again, and the longer that passed, the fewer old friends there would be to visit. Such was life, full of deaths and drifting apart, just as much as it was full of starting friendships and staying close.

“Hey! You there!” The voice belonged to the owner of the inn, a stern, cranky old lady who got along with Rutger terribly. Dieck rather liked her, though, both for her generously cheap rent, and because watching Rutger get into an argument with her that he stood no chance of winning with his reliance on reason was funny every time it happened. The old lady shuffled up to Dieck with her cane, a couple of letters in her hand, and tossed them onto his table as soon as she was close enough. “These are for you, ya little snot. Some rich bastards wrote you letters, lucky brat.” As the old lady walked away, her pace as slow as a grumpy sloth to the relatively young mercenary, Dieck rolled his eyes with a grin and held up the letters in the light. Ornate handwriting and imagery clearly marked both as of noble origin, causing Dieck to raise his eyebrows slightly in surprise. With great effort, he began to read to see who the sender was.

Just then, Rutger wandered out of their room with untidy hair and messy clothes, the door clacking shut behind him. Dieck had to struggle not to laugh, with his lover’s appearance being so unlike him. Rutger frowned at Dieck’s amused grin, and ran a hand through his long hair, as though that would fix anything. “Forget that for right now, love.” Dieck said, waving the letters above his head. “I don’t know how they managed it, but Klein and Clarine sent us letters.”

Unable to hide his curiosity, Rutger sat opposite Dieck at the table, and raised an eyebrow. “Well, what are you waiting for? Let’s read them.”

Klein’s letter was remarkably dry, as was like him. It began with a detailed discussion of recent Etrurian politics, which Rutger didn’t have the knowledge to understand and Dieck didn’t have the interest. However, near the middle was a couple of juicy bits of information. The first was that Prince Mildain of Etruria and his loyal knight Perceval were carrying on an affair, which came as no surprise to any who knew them. The second, more interesting part was that Klein was now engaged to Thea, former mercenary of Ilia and current princess of the newly founded Kingdom of Ilia, as the sister of Queen Juno, though he insisted in the letter that it was a marriage of love, not political convenience. “Well, would you look at that! Seems that little Klein has some guts after all.” Rutger hummed in agreement. “Marrying a princess for love, that’s just like him. Boring, but sweet.”

Rolling his eyes, Dieck smacked Rutger on the shoulder playfully, causing Rutger to smile in amusement. “You’re always so hard on him. He’s plenty interesting. Any son of Lord Pent would be.”

The smile on Rutger’s face held only a sort of caring love that would have looked alien on him back during the war. “You defend him like you’re his real dad.” The swordsman said, a statement which Dieck made no effort to refute. “I suppose what you said is true, though. Maybe I am too hard on him. He’s interesting when he needs to be, just like Pent, though he became like that on his own.” Putting that line of thought aside, Rutger pointed to the other letter. “What does Clarine’s letter say?”

After it was opened, Dieck read it aloud, for Clarine’s handwriting was even more ostentatious and incomprehensible than Klein’s, and Rutger was unable to make out the words. The letter was much shorter than Klein’s, however, so it was not long before Dieck reached the interesting part. “...Oh, interesting. Says here that she and Dorothy are ‘courting’, so she’s had Dorothy move in with her.” Rutger’s smile became triumphant, as he clenched a fist upwards in victory. “That’s my girl alright. Though, I can’t imagine Dorothy is too pleased about that.”

With a laugh, Dieck shook his head. “Yeah, I imagine she isn’t too keen on it. Always seemed more of a village girl to me, not one for fancy castles. Still,” At this part Dieck looked up at Rutger flirtatiously. “I know from experience that having someone you love with you makes it without a doubt easy to get used to.”

Rutger chuckled at that, his laugh a rare but pleasant one that charmed Dieck every time he heard it. “You big flirt. I’m going to get sick of you one of these days, you know.” Rutger then leaned across the table to kiss Dieck. After a few seconds, he broke the kiss, and looked up into Dieck’s eyes lovingly. “Until then, though, nothing could make me happier than staying by your side.”

“Same here. Though, you’re not gonna get sick of me until the day I die, I guarantee it.” Dieck replied with a grin, before resuming his kiss with Rutger.

As he thought, being sentimental really wasn’t such a bad thing at all.


End file.
